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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25092985">When Nifflers Fly</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wellwick/pseuds/Wellwick'>Wellwick</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Comedy, Drama, F/F, F/M, M/M, Making Out, Romance, Summer Camp, Trans Female Character, multiple protagonist</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 05:21:57</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>15,900</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25092985</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wellwick/pseuds/Wellwick</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Over the summer break, the students end up going to summer camp. Each of the trio learns a little something about themselves.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, Hermione Granger/Daphne Greengrass, Hermione Granger/Dean Thomas, Neville Longbottom/Ron Weasley</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>35</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Hermione</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Stop fidgeting,” Susan said. “You’ll make me muck up and have to start all over.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Or we could just stop there. I look much better already,” Hermione said, fighting her instincts to dodge out of the way of the eyelash curler.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nope. Not going to happen,” Susan replied. “We follow the pact.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hermione was not a fan of the pact. A few of the girls were once again jealous of Fleur Delacour, who had been a surprise camp counselor when they’d arrived a couple of days ago. It was just like fourth year, a bunch of girls now battling for the attention of the boys over Fleur’s natural (and somewhat unnatural, with her Veela heritage) allure.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The cliquer parts of the girl’s camp had banded together, agreeing to pull out all the stops today at lunch. A far skimpier outfit had been forced on Hermione and her bunkmate was tasked with getting her dolled up, despite her complaints that she really didn’t care for making herself pretty just for the boys.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So,” Susan said, continuing her makeup work and raising her eyebrows playfully, “anyone you think you want to drag up to Makeout Point?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hermione flushed. It hadn’t taken long for an outcropping of rock over the lake just to the edge of the camp to become a frequent spot to find people hooking up. There was already gossip on who was visiting with who, and Hermione would rather keep other people’s noses out of her business.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Still, she supposed she wouldn’t mind attracting the attention of one redhead in particular.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Susan smirked, taking Hermione’s silence as answer enough. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When the bell rang for dinner, Hermione’s hair was curled and framing her face, her makeup drawing attention to her hazel eyes. She was, Susan claimed, looking ‘perf’.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The girls camp sauntered under the dining gazebo as one group, drawing the attention of all the boys that had already sat down for the meal. Hermione picked out Harry from the crowd, rolled her eyes at him over it all and got a grin in response. She searched for Ron too, but didn’t see him, which surprised her. He wasn’t the sort to miss a meal.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Afternoon ladies,” the french accented voice cut through her thoughts as the girls gathered on one long table. Several glares were levelled at Fleur as she arrived, but the woman kept her smile up despite the hostility. “Food iz already being served, so if you’re staying in building A or B, you can collect now.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A few of the girls stood, going to gather plates and cutlery. Hermione toyed with her hair, still searching for Ron among the crowd, still unable to spot him. She crossed her arms, then brought her hand to her mouth, about to bite her nails when Susan slapped her hand away.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not doing those nails again,” she said, teasingly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hermione let out a little nervous laugh in response, glancing at the ground. “Thank you, for all of this. I wasn’t feeling it, if I’m honest, but it’s nice to be doing something with just the girls for once. I feel like usually I only ever hang out with Harry and-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Help! Someone, please,” a voice called from the far end of the gazebo.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Everyone’s attention turned to spot Ron, dismantling Neville from his shoulder and dropping the boy onto the bench at the end of the table. There was blood on Ron’s hands, but he didn’t seem hurt.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Neville, however, was in a real state. His front was covered in blood and his face was contorted in an unreadable expression. He was shaking, quivering, making it hard to tell what had happened to him, but it looked like he had suffered a pretty serious wound.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hermione stood up from the table, but didn’t get a chance to see more as some of the camp counselors gathered around Neville, checking him. The worry over Neville quickly vanished. With magic the camp counselors would be able to deal with whatever had happened without issue. By the time she reached Ron they were already hauling Neville up and rushing him to get first aid.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hermione came to a stop just behind Ron, who had watched Neville get carried off. She suddenly felt horribly self-conscious of how much skin she had on display, that she had more makeup caked on than she would normally wear in a whole week. She didn’t have her frizzy hair to hide behind, or a book to turn her attention away from anything, or anyone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hi Ron,” she said, then paused to make her voice not so horribly high pitched. “What happened to Neville?” She asked, glad that her voice was behaving again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He got caught by this thing. Had horns, charged him,” Ron said, not turning around, still watching Neville get dragged away. “Shit. We didn’t even go that far from camp.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That sounds awful,” Hermione said. She reached out, her hand finding his arm. It was warm. She hoped he didn’t say her hands were too cold. “I- They’ll take good care of him. You should come eat. Get yourself some food, we can sit down and eat together. You can tell me what happened.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron finally looked round, glancing over the tables and other campers. He met Hermione’s eyes and she let out a shaky breath.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t want- I should really go check on him,” Ron said. “I might be able to help.”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>He doesn’t want to. He’s not interested. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>The traitorous voice whispered in the back of her head as her stomach sunk. The excuse sounded fake to her ears, knowing that Ron didn’t have any medical skills that could help.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She forced a smile onto her face, determined to hide the hurt. “Okay,” she said, her voice annoyingly chipper. “I hope he’s feeling better soon.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron left. He didn’t look back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hermione bit her lip as she sat back down, ruining her lipstick in the progress. She didn’t care. She would do this if it meant she could keep the hurt off her face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Stupid. She knew that Ron wasn’t interested in her. She was a nerdy bookworm, someone to help out with homework. Nothing more.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Fleur was at the table again, said something Hermione didn’t catch.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>People stood up around her, chattering away to one another about inane, pointless things.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Susan prodded her. “Our house, Hermione. Come on. Grab some food.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hermione stood up again slowly, falling to the back of the queue.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The queue moved forward and she didn’t move with it. She wasn’t hungry.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She wasn’t hungry when she walked out of the gazebo.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She wasn’t hungry when she climbed up the hill overlooking the camp.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She wasn’t hungry after an hour of crying over a stupid boy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She was hungry when she woke up hours later, the sun already set. She stirred from her impromptu post crying-nap from the sound of two people moving around nearby, murmuring to each other.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The disorientation only lasted a few seconds before she got her head on straight. She climbed up to this spot to have some peace and quiet away from everyone else, but it was later now, and this was Makeout Point. Two quiet voices nearby meant one thing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She ducked down against the rock, her body flush against it so she was hidden in the darkness. She held her breath, sure that she was about to be spotted, about to be called out and ridiculed for coming up to this spot, alone, trying to hide from everyone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Footsteps fell mere feet from her, but no-one said anything to her. She heard clothes rustling, the sound of two people settling down and sitting on the rock face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She waited, holding her breath as best she could, the only noise being the whistling of the wind and the slight buzz of the morning air. A few moments later she could pick out the murmuring of the two people again, more rustling of clothes- she could imagine the spot was fulfilling its namesake.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Thinking that the two might be distracted enough, she slowly raised her head, peeking slowly over the edge of rock she was hiding behind, spotting the two figures silhouetted against the moonlight. They were interlocked, entwined in one another, one shorter figure with long hair, another with shorter hair, their arms wrapped around the body of the other. It was dim enough Hermione couldn’t make faces, but that didn’t bother her. She was far more interested in getting out of there without being spotted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She began to crawl backwards, her feet pawing for footholds as she reversed, keeping her eyes on the two in case she needed to duck back down.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The taller of the two was pressing themselves against the other, hands roving, but the longer haired one moved their hands away onto their back again, then their shoulders when they began roving again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The hands kept exploring and the longer haired one broke away from the kiss. “Stop,” she said, her voice stern and louder than anything they’d murmured so far.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hermione froze, sure for a moment that the instruction was directed at her. Her breath caught in her throat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After a moment that stretched on for far too long, the two’s lips connected again. Hermione breathed again. She glanced back and saw that she was nearly clear of the rock now. When the grass and soft earth was below her again she would be able to move quicker.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She heard a slap. Turned back to the couple, saw the girl leaning back again, her hand in the air.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I said stop,” she said, her tone more mocking and disapproving than angry. “If I wanted you to touch, I would have said so.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You think you’re in charge here?” the other said, a boy’s voice.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The girl sighed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then she pushed him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hermione couldn’t help but gasp in the silence that followed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Two seconds later she heard a splash. Then a few seconds after that, cursing from the lake.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Who’s there?” the girl said, her attention no longer on the boy she’d shoved off the overhang to the water below.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hermione hesitated, keeping low, wondering if she could stay hidden, whether she should. Then, she decided that she wasn’t going to be able to hide, there was no way she’d be able to sneak off, even in the dark.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She climbed to her feet, trying to make out the girl’s features now that she was revealing herself. “It’s Hermione,” she said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah. Granger,” the girl responded. She turned back to look back out over the lake and camp.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hermione stepped closer, making her way back up the rock to the edge of the overhang again to join the girl. She crested the rock and was granted the sight of a figure climbing out of the water at the far end of the lake, fully clothed and sopping wet, beginning the trudge back towards the camp.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s Daphne, right?” Hermione said, coming to stop beside the girl.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Greengrass, yes,” she said. “You enjoy the show?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I didn’t- I wasn’t planning on being around for anything happening up here,” Hermione said. “I tried to get away when I realised someone else was coming.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Daphne was quiet for a moment. “Are you going to sit down? I won’t push you into the water, I promise, unless you try to cop a feel.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hermione laughed uncomfortably. She glanced at the girl beside her, but Daphne was still watching the boy making his way back to his building, her arms wrapped around her legs that she brought up, knees to chin.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hermione sat down.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you okay?” Hermione asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah. I’m fine,” Daphne replied. “Can’t wait until I’m getting called bitchy tomorrow though.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh, why would-?” Hermione began to ask, then came up short. She had just watched Daphne push a boy off a cliff.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s bull. Like we’re not allowed to decide what we want,” Daphne said. “You know they’ve got a nickname for me. Ice Queen. Just cause I won’t put out for these-” she struggled for the words.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“-bundles of hormones?” Hermione suggested.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ha,” Daphne said without humour. “They’re definitely not men.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The two of them fell silent.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The wind whistled. Hermione shivered, shuffling a little closer to Daphne, hoping that she might help block the cold from the unprotected spot.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why is this Makeout Point?” Hermione asked, exasperated. “The wind makes it cold, the rock is hard and uncomfortable. The only thing going for it is the view.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Daphne shrugged. “I guess you don’t get cold with someone else close.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hermione glanced back in the direction of the boy. He was gone, inside now, she supposed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know why I came up here,” Daphne said. “I really should have known. We know what they’re like at school. I swear, these boys are barely worth the effort.” Daphne looked at Hermione for the first time, a smile on her face like they were sharing a private joke.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hermione couldn’t help but return the smile. “You might be onto something there.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They kept the look for a long moment. Then, Daphne tilted her head a little, her expression shifting to something curious.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hermione’s headspace was somewhere else entirely when Daphne’s lips met hers. The kiss was over before she’d even registered it was going to happen.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Um.” Hermione’s cheeks burned red. She turned away from Daphne, her fingers going to her lips.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She discovered the half ruined lipstick of earlier and wondered for the first time what she must look like right now. She’d been crying, her makeup was probably a mess and she had been sleeping on a rock for hours.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What was that?” Hermione asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know,” Daphne said. She didn’t sound sorry.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is this more of you- deciding what you want?” Hermione asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Daphne smiled, and it was the realest smile she’d ever seen on the girl. “Don’t flatter yourself too much, sweetie. It was just a kiss.”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Just a kiss.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Just my first kiss.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>For the first time, Hermione wasn’t thinking anything. She couldn’t really puzzle anything out. There was no input, no problem, no textbook or information to parse and store away. It was unnerving, made her unsure of what was really going on in her head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She flailed in that nothingness of her mind for a moment, then righted the ship. There wasn’t a rush of thoughts again, but there was a plan. Her plan, the one that she always went back to. Whenever she wasn’t sure of something, she could fall back on it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Research.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can I have another?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Daphne looked surprised.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Still, Hermione was ready for the second kiss.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She was ready for the rest of them too.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She was ready when Daphne told her that she wanted to be touched.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She was ready to say no when Daphne offered to return those touches.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She wasn’t ready for the smile Daphne shone at her when they broke apart a while later.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That was- good. Fun,” Daphne said, still smiling when they had reached the buildings where their bedrooms were. She kissed Hermione on the cheek. “Be seeing you, Hermione.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As she walked back to her room, she decided that she liked </span>
  <em>
    <span>just kisses</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hermione,” Susan said as greeting as she got back to her room. Then, a moment later, “you’re blushing.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hermione felt her cheek. It was pretty warm. “I guess I am.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The corners of her lips turned upwards. She really couldn’t help if the grin that slipped onto her face looked dumb.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When she woke early the next morning, she had more energy than she expected. Susan had pestered her about those blushes and grins for far later into the night with nothing but cryptic responses to show for it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maybe she spent a little more of that extra energy on makeup and hair that morning than she normally would. Maybe she borrowed and wore shorts and a tank top from Susan that she otherwise wouldn’t wear.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maybe she noticed Daphne’s blush when she spotted Hermione that morning at breakfast. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maybe she liked it, too.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Still, not everything had changed. Since the girls hadn’t set out with the express intent of upstaging Fleur this morning, they weren’t all sitting and eating together like yesterday, so Hermione left some seats open beside her that Harry took when he arrived. Ron was, once again, conspicuously absent. Hermione didn’t search for him this time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Morning,” she said as Harry sat down.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey, Hermione,” Harry said, glancing over her. “I like the outfit.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thanks,” she said. “I figured we’re not at Hogwarts, so I should stop treating my clothes like a uniform.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hermione Granger, breaking her own rules! Whatever next? Will I see nifflers flying if I look out the window?” Harry asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She frowned at him. “I’m not breaking rules! I’m just making up new ones.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Harry chuckled. “Well, I’m glad. You work hard enough at school, no need to here, too.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Most of the other boys around them fell silent, something that occurred every day at the breakfast table, the lot of them rousing from their half asleep state.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hermione gave Harry an exasperated look, making him laugh.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Morning Fleur,” Harry said as the part Veela walked by the table.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“‘Ello, ‘Arry,” she replied, continuing to walk down the aisle.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Boys,” Hermione said in a mock disgusted tone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’re not all hopeless,” Harry said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hermione’s eyes roved over the rest of the male populace. She could see a few of the boys had retained some semblance of control, like Harry and Dean Thomas, but it was still disappointing. “Statistically speaking though-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Soon they were done with their breakfasts and were off doing their own daily camp activities. Hermione was pulled away from her schedule after lunch by Fleur and back to the dorm rooms to sort out a newcomer to the girls side of the camp.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hermione had been puzzled, confused why someone would arrive four days into the week long trip but all of that had been cleared up when she met the person in question.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was Neville.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Or, was it ‘had been Neville’?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hermione still recognised the facial structure, the short straight hair that had stayed mostly the same, if now a little longer. Neville was still a little pudgy, but most of that weight had gone to their hips and- breasts. Neville had breasts. Their legs were- not slender exactly, but far more defined than before.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Neville?” Hermione said once she had a moment to take in the figure sitting on the bottom bunk of an unused room. “What happened to you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>If there was one thing more recognisable than anything else, it was the way Neville leaned into themself, not wanting to be interrogated, something they hadn’t done in years.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Before Neville could say anything, Hermione was by their side to comfort them, abandoning Fleur at the door. “Hey, it’s okay. I’m just- surprised. Is this about what happened yesterday?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yesterday felt like a long way away. Crying about Ron. Neville’s gory wound. Watching the boy go over the edge of Makeout Point.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ha, uh, well yeah,” Neville said. Their voice was high pitched. Hermione really should have been expecting it, but she blinked in surprise anyway. “What I got hit by was magical and it had side-effects.” Neville looked down at themself. “Pretty significant side-effects. The camp counselors- uh, haven’t reversed it yet.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There’s been a long talk about it by ze camp counselors. Whether Neville should go back to ze boys camp, whether we should requisition for a new portkey,” Fleur said. “Ze decision was made to ‘ave ‘im stay ‘ere.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Neville nodded along with her words.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Um, are you okay? Is there anything I can get you?” Hermione asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Neville shook their head. “Ron’s collecting all my things and bringing it over. He’s been really great.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hermione nodded. She couldn’t think of what to say.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We thought you might be able to show ‘im around. Bathrooms, common room,” Fleur said. She looked at her watch.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hermione nodded again. “Yeah, of course.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She looked at Neville again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll make sure Neville gets what he needs,” Hermione said, looking at Fleur. She tried to project confidence and must have succeeded because Fleur nodded at her and left the room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Neville relaxed visibly. “Hey, Hermione. Guess this is strange,” they said, their voice a little brighter.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I suppose,” Hermione said. “We’ve had the odd adventure though, they tend to have all sorts of consequences.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Neville reached out and held her hand, a comforting, friendly gesture. Hermione smiled, glad that Neville wasn’t spiralling out over this change.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sure Ron and I can tell you all about it later,” Neville said.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Harry</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Malfoy looked at the bunk bed with disdain. Harry wasn’t happy with the situation either.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This is ridiculous,” Malfoy said. “We can do magic, I shouldn’t have to share a room with anyone, let alone you, Potter.” Malfoy snarled, dropping his hefty suitcase on the ground, the clunk cutting through Harry’s nerves.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He had to share a room with Malfoy for the entire week. He couldn’t imagine what state he would be in by the end of it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just pick a bunk, Malfoy,” Harry said, already feeling on edge around the blond boy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Malfoy made a face at that, then chucked a few items of clothing onto the top bunk. Next he went to the chest of drawers to claim some space for the rest of his clothes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Harry was distracted from Malfoy’s building strop by a knock on the door, which he immediately turned around to answer, happy to have an excuse not to deal with Malfoy. He opened the door to a familiar face and smiled widely.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ron, you made it!” Harry exclaimed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What the hell, Harry?” Ron said. He was frowning, pissed. Another aspect of that familiar face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We were meant to share a room. That’s what.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Harry looked back in the room at Malfoy who had glanced up at the exchange and was now watching it with glee. Harry stepped into the hallway, shutting the door behind him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And you’re with Malfoy?” Ron asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You think I want to be?” Harry said. “You were late! I said that I could take a room by myself until you arrived and then we’d bunk together, but they wouldn’t- didn’t listen to me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What sort of- I was three hours late!” Ron was practically yelling now. “You couldn’t hold them off on that for three hours?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe I can move into a room with you now that you’re here,” Harry said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They’ve put me with </span>
  <em>
    <span>Neville</span>
  </em>
  <span> because he was late too,” Ron said. “</span>
  <em>
    <span>Neville</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There’s nothing wrong with Neville. He’s not Malfoy,” Harry said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“At least Malfoy wouldn’t abandon his friends,” Ron said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Harry bit his lip. Malfoy had only been assigned to bunk with him because no one else at the camp had wanted to share a room with him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He glared at Ron. He hadn’t abandoned Ron. He’d thought Ron had abandoned him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But Harry couldn’t verbalise that. Couldn’t bring himself to make things even worse.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron took his silence as admittance of fault and grunted at Harry, storming back off down the hallway.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Harry watched him go, searching for something to say to make things better but he knew from experience that Ron had always been hotheaded enough he </span>
  <em>
    <span>couldn’t </span>
  </em>
  <span>be dealt with when he was angry.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When he finally opened the door again, it was to the smug, punchable face of Draco Malfoy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Having a lover’s spat, Potter?” Malfoy taunted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Shut it, Malfoy,” Harry said. </span>
  <em>
    <span>At least I have a friend that actually wants to share a room with me</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Poor Weasley, his family probably spent their last knut to get him here and he’s not even going to get to spend it with his Scarhead,” Malfoy said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know his brothers’ store is the busiest in Diagon Alley, right?” Harry asked. “They got that through work, hard work. You ever heard about earning money before, Malfoy?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Malfoy glared at Harry. He slammed the drawer he was storing clothes in shut and said, “listen here, Potter-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, Draco, you listen,” Harry said. “We’ve got to spend a week sharing this room. Together. Why don’t we just make a deal that we stay out of each other’s way until that’s over?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Draco’s glare didn’t lessen but his lips did press together, thin in anger. Then he strutted across to the door and threw it open.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m going for a walk,” he said. “Don’t touch my stuff!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He left before Harry could respond, which was fine by Harry. He got to work unpacking, and found he had the room to himself until dinner rolled around. Without Ron to talk to and Hermione in the girl’s side of the camp, Harry found himself having to keep himself entertained, but it was far more freeing than when he was at the Dursley’s, constantly having someone looking over his shoulder.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dinner was an affair, most of the boys deciding to sit at a table together, something that Harry decided to join after spotting Hermione sitting between two other girls from his year.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was a decision he came to regret.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She’s so </span>
  <em>
    <span>hot</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” Seamus said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well she is part-Veela,” Ron said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A shame there was only the one swimsuit requirement during the tournament,” Theo said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Harry looked over to where the camp counselors were eating their food, keeping an eye on the camp goers. The woman in question was, well, she was extremely pretty, Harry had to admit. But he’d spoken to her, competed against her. She had talent, she was skillful with a wand and had been in with a serious chance of winning the cup if it hadn’t been for Crouch.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She fought off a dragon too,” Dean interjected. Harry nodded.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re right,” Terry said. “She can definitely deal with things getting </span>
  <em>
    <span>hot</span>
  </em>
  <span> and </span>
  <em>
    <span>heavy</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It elicited some laughs, cackling from a few of the boys.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, it’s only right-” Malfoy started to say.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Draco,” Harry cut him off, “think carefully before you say whatever you say.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There were a few chuckles at that, but far fewer.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Being a little killjoy, Potter?” Theo asked. “So surprising. How about something for the real men around the table?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you have in mind?” Malfoy asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A pool. First one to tame the Veela collects all.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, that’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>good</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” Seamus said. “I am so in!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Me too,” Malfoy said, “obviously. It-” he stopped short, looking at Harry.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A few others agreed, despite a few uncomfortable looks between the other boys at the table.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And you Potter? Surely it would be easy for the Boy-who-Lived to get even a measly kiss,” Theo said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Insults popped into Harry’s head. About how degrading it was, about how pathetic they all were, how they would all die pathetic virgins. He glanced at Draco, saw the measured look at the boys eyes and remembered the deal he’d already made with him. About how they weren’t going to fight, or insult, or get in each other's way. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He glared at Draco like this had all been his fault and was met with accusation in the boy's eyes, a promise of retribution. Malfoy could make his week hell and it was the first real holiday Harry had ever had.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fine,” Harry said, swallowing his pride and disgust. “Fine, I’m in.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was worth it, Harry thought, when Draco left him alone that night. And when they even shared a joke the following night about Seamus’s embarrassing display of trying to talk to Fleur, it was a bizarre bonus. Common ground with Draco Malfoy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It wasn’t like Harry was going to actually pursue Fleur. He wasn’t interested in her that way, and no money pool or bet would ever change his feelings about something like that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Harry had even been looking forward to joking around with Draco again about Theo trying to sit down next to Fleur at dinner on the third night, but Draco hadn’t turned up to the room after dinner. Harry instead decided to go check on Neville after his injury earlier in the day, but there hadn’t been an answer at the door of his and Ron’s room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron and Harry still weren’t talking. Harry had tried, thinking that Ron had cooled down, but Draco had always been nearby, ready to provoke. Harry was forced into the role of peacekeeper for his own sake and the whole thing had only gotten worse.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Harry returned to his room, irritated and expecting to turn in early. He was even in bed, having picked up and put down a book a dozen times before Draco returned to the room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Returned soaking wet, shoes squelching against the wooden floors.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Harry jumped off the bed, “Draco? What happened?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Draco flung his arms up in the air then brought them back down, stamping his foot at the same time. Water splattered on the wall to the side of him and his clothes made wet slapping noises against his skin. “None of your business,” Draco said, frustration and annoyance bleeding into his voice but completely undermined by his half drowned state.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Harry couldn’t help the laughter that bubbled up, even as Draco’s look of annoyance turned to a full blown glare.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Stop it, Potter,” Draco yelled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“-sorry,” Harry gasped between breaths. He let out another chuckle.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I said-” Draco began walking towards Harry, finger pointing accusingly, but in his haste he slipped, tumbling backwards onto his backside, his face captured in a moment of pure terror that set Harry off again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh- god,” Harry said, fighting down the laughter. He stumbled over to Draco, pulling him up to his feet with one hand while trying to hide his mirth with the other.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Man,” Harry said a few moments later, a little more in control of himself, “I think I needed that.” He grabbed Draco’s towel, throwing it at him and Draco caught it. “How’d you end up looking like a drowned cat?” Harry asked again. “You fall into the lake?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not telling,” Draco yelled, grabbing a change of clothes and hurrying back out of the room to go to the bathrooms, but not before Harry spotted the flush on his cheeks.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When he returned, Harry was merciful. Except from a smirk at Draco from the bottom bunk, he indicated nothing strange had happened and Draco ignored him in return.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Still, Harry made sure to remind Draco to take his clothes off before getting in the shower the next morning, which earned him another flushing of the cheeks.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was strange. A week ago, it would have felt aggressive, a taunt at an enemy, but that morning it was closer to good-natured teasing. Harry couldn’t say he missed the antagonism.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Other things were different too.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Morning,” Hermione said as Harry sat down beside her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Harry almost did a double take. Hermione was dressed up this morning in a very un-Hermione like way. Her eyelashes were defined, drawing his attention to her eyes briefly, before he noticed- Hermione had cleavage. Like, a real eyeful of the stuff.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey Hermione. I like the outfit,” Harry said, looking away again before she got the wrong idea, that he might be perving on her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>God, even that moment made him feel like an asshole.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He spotted Draco sitting down a little ways up the table, blush gone from his face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thanks. I figured we’re not at Hogwarts, so I should stop treating my clothes like a uniform,” she said matter of factly. Harry couldn’t help but agree with her. Getting along with Draco, Ron not talking to him. It definitely didn’t feel like Hogwarts.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Still he didn’t want to burden her at all. “Hermione Granger, breaking her own rules! Whatever next? Will I see nifflers flying if I look out the window?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not breaking rules! I’m just making up new ones.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Harry held up his hands in surrender, laughing a little. It wouldn’t do to get murdered to what had started as quite a nice day and accusing Hermione of being a rule breaker toed that dangerous possibility.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, I’m glad,” Harry said. He thought of the bookworm he’d spent years at school with, who had backed him up through thick and thin. “You work hard enough at school, no need to here, too.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Movement caught Harry’s attention out of the corner of his eye. Draco was sitting upright, posture like he was that snobbish kid from years ago, the one Harry had seen fall away a little while they had shared a room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Harry clocked Fleur’s arrival next, the puzzle piece slotting into place. That stupid bet, making everyone act dumb. He spotted Hermione’s expression at the boys behaviour and couldn’t help but laugh.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Morning Fleur,” Harry said. He made eye contact with Draco a moment later as Fleur responded in kind, enjoying the flush of annoyance on Draco’s cheeks as he noted the exchange. Considering the disaster of Seamus and Theo, it put Harry head and shoulders above the disastrous attempts of the other boys.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Boys,” Hermione said, shaking her head slightly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Harry tore his eyes away from Draco. “We’re not all hopeless.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It wasn’t until the next day that Harry really started believing that though.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is this seat taken?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The seat beside Harry was clearly free. Harry still wasn’t sure how to respond.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron sat down in it anyway.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The two of them continued eating breakfast in silence for several tense moments.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry,” Ron said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Harry twisted to look at Ron, trying to keep the surprise off his face. It had taken Harry facing off against a dragon before to have their spat get resolved, which made this feel rather sudden.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I shouldn’t have blamed you,” Ron said. “I know you didn’t have a choice about sharing a room with Malfoy.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I didn’t,” Harry agreed. </span>
  <em>
    <span>But it turns out it’s not so bad</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And I wanted to share a room with you. I did- it was just what we’ve always done, I didn’t think things would be any different,” Ron said. “And I was sharing a room with Neville instead. It-” Ron tailed off.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Was sharing a room?” Harry asked</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He’s been moved. Which is weird and sucky and just makes the room feel really quiet.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You two fall out?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No. Not like that,” Ron said. He let out a frustrated sigh. “It just happened. Weren’t really given a choice.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah,” Harry said, unsure how to comfort Ron when just a few days ago he’d been lamenting having to share a room with Neville. “You can still go hang out with him though, right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Ron said, and let out a short laugh that sounded more pained than humorous. “I guess you didn’t even get that the last few days. I’m sorry, I was being a real arse. I know you were looking forward to this, hanging out.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Harry nodded, smiled at Ron. “It’s alright. We can partner for the orientation thing today?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After a moment’s thought, Ron smiled genuinely for the first time the whole of breakfast. “Sure, that sounds good.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And it was good, comforting to have his first friend at his side again, something that Draco couldn’t really compare to even if Harry enjoyed joking around and messing with the boy. They talked about Quidditch and school and food and all sorts of things and not girls. It was a relief after having spent all week around the rest of the boys who seemed obsessed with chasing Fleur.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The boys were just as bad that afternoon when they were doing the orientation task, using a map to navigate the nearby forest, charting things. Ron surprised Harry a little, pointing out some fluxgrass and other Potion ingredients as they made their way around loosely connected to their group of boys. The chaperone for their group was Fleur herself, which meant the other pairs of boys weren’t doing much good at charting the stuff that they were meant to be looking for, which weirdly resulted in Harry and Ron doing the best of the group.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dinnertime approached quickly and the group began making their way back towards the camp. Ron told Harry that he would catch up with him for dinner, asking him to cover for his falling behind the group. Rather than risk or prod at their rediscovered friendship, Harry agreed, biting back his curiosity as Ron slipped between some trees, working his way past a pond and out of sight.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hoping to keep Fleur distracted from doing a headcount, he fell in step with her. “Uh, so are you having a good summer?” Harry asked lamely.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She smiled at him nonetheless. “Eet iz okay. A different pace, far more relaxed.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why are you a counselor here, anyway? I thought you were working at Gringotts?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oui, I am. Gabrielle is attending next week, so I am ‘ere to keep an eye on ‘er. Make sure she doezn't get into any mischief,” Fleur responded arching her eyebrow. Harry got the sense it wasn’t the pranking mischief that worried Fleur but the sort that happened when a bunch of teenagers were gathered together with minimal supervision.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh,” Harry said, blushing a little. “I’m sorry I’m going to miss her, then.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She was quite taken with you after the second task,” Fleur said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I-” Harry stammered for a moment. “She was never in any danger.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“True,” Fleur agreed. She was quiet for a moment. “I was though, in the maze. I never got the chance to say thank you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Harry could picture Krum, standing above Fleur as she thrashed in the dirt, the vile torture curse making her scream in pain. It set his skin on edge.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s fine, honestly,” Harry said. “Are you okay?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes,” Fleur said. “Are you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Harry lied, just as quickly. Fleur exchanged a soft look with him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Four champions. One dead, one tortured, one Imperioused. And Harry.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The camp was in view now, the walk back shorter than Harry remembered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Fleur looked at the camp, then back to Harry. “Meet me after dinner. We’ll talk about it a bit.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Harry nodded dumbly. Fleur pulled ahead of him, or maybe he stopped walking. When she was a distance away, he began to breathe regularly again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Harry was subdued over dinner and even having Hermione and Ron either side of him didn’t alleviate the mood that had overcome him. There was some joke he missed that had the both of them cackling and Dean blushing across the table from them, but he couldn’t shake the funk that had overcome him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Shall we ‘ave a wander?” Fleur asked when Harry joined her after dinner.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sure,” Harry said, his mind still moving between the maze and the graveyard.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Fleur seemed to notice, so for a while they talked about school and what it had been like since the tournament. Fleur talked about graduation and even had a few amusing anecdotes about Gabrielle, but eventually the conversation had to turn back to one thing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“‘E was a good man,” Fleur said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Harry used the excuse of the hill they were climbing to take a longer breath before responding. “He was. He asked me to bring his body back, for his parent’s sake. Even after he died, he was thinking about what everyone else wanted.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Fleur laughed, light and quick.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I would ‘ave liked to know ‘im better.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Me too.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The two of them sat down at the edge of a rock that cropped out over the lack, providing a view of the camp.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was peaceful.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I wonder what he would be doing nowadays,” Harry said. “He was a seeker at school. Maybe he’d be doing Quidditch like-” he stopped short of saying Krum’s name, noticing Fleur’s intake of breath.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Non. ‘E’d be better doing something important. Auror, Minister, Healer,” she said, listing some possibilities off the top of her head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Probably.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Silence fell between them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe he would come out to a camp like this,” Harry said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I cannot imagine ‘im at a place like this. Acting like a leetle pervert like your classmates,” Fleur said, her tone both joking and carrying an undertone of danger.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Harry laughed. “True, true. You know they’ve got a stupid bet, to see who’s going to get with you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ha. They would be so lucky,” she said, grinning despite the ridicule.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll admit, I’m enjoying watching so many of them self-destruct.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Those are their attempts to bed moi?” Fleur asked in shock. “You English boys are ‘opeless!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s what Hermione said.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That girl is the only sane one among you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’ve known that for a long time,” Harry said with a smirk.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We could show up the rest of your ‘ousemates,” Fleur said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hmm?” Harry looked at her, saw the mischievous look in her eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, we could kiss. Then you claim their bet, teach them a lesson,” Fleur said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh- Well, I…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I would ‘onestly prefer the lot of them give up,” Fleur said, smirking at Harry. She was playing with him, a bit. “And if I was to kiss you, eet would not be the worst.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I, uh-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Fleur was leaning in.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Harry’s heart froze up. He really didn’t know what to do.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He closed his eyes. His lips parted ever so slightly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He leaned back a little, trying to brace himself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The kiss felt like he was falling, a sudden rush as his stomach tried to catch up with a sudden descent. He couldn’t even register the feeling on his lips.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Suddenly, he was plunged underwater. A gasp for breath was met with water rushing into his mouth and he thrashed around, his mind still half in the tournament torn back to images of Grindylows, merfolk, the feel of suffocation as the water pressed in on him-</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He broke the surface again to the sound of laughter, soft and light above him. The disorientation faded as the pieces fell into place. That feeling of falling hadn’t been a kiss at all- he’d been leaning away from Fleur as she leaned in for the kiss and fallen off the outcropping into the water below.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s not-” Harry dipped below the water level for a moment, getting a mouthful of water, and sprayed it back out again immediately, “-funny!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Fleur shouted something back down to Harry, but he missed it as he dipped back under the water again momentarily. He kicked water, then turned, starting to make his way to the edge of the lake, towards the camp.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He climbed out, soaked, shivering, his clothes clinging to his skin uncomfortably. He turned to look back at Fleur, who was still sitting and smiling on the top of the rock.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Harry was glad his tumble had managed to cheer her up. He raised a hand to wave goodbye and she did the same.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He didn’t feel so cheered himself. It was all still there, just under the surface, the water reminding him of the tournament, how he’d worried over Gabrielle drowning, nearly drowning himself-</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Harry wandered into his and Draco’s room, dripping water onto the floor, his hair falling across his eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Harry,” Draco said, sitting up and slipping off of his bunk onto the floor. He looked at Harry in shock for a moment.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Draco,” Harry said, deadly serious.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They both broke out laughing. Draco started gasping out some sort of teasing comparison of Harry and a fish, but Harry tackled the boy to the ground, earning a shriek of panic from him about getting his pajamas wet. The two tumbled on the floor, a wrestling sopping mess and when Harry rolled free of Draco again, his funk was gone and he was grinning at Draco who was complaining about the wet patches on his clothes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His mood continued into the penultimate day of camp, his grin cropping up again whenever he saw Draco and pictured him flustered from the wrestling, fretting about a few damp spots.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron was still talking to him, Hermione seemed in high spirits and his old school enemy had seemingly turned into a friend. It was about as good as life got for Harry Potter.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He wished it was always that way.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So,” Harry said, “last night.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Draco nodded, propped up on his bed, looking away from his book to Harry.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s been- better than I expected,” Harry continued.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s not been so awful after all,” Draco agreed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Harry smiled. He was in the middle of packing, his clothes spread out around him as he put them all back into his trunk, except for the set he was going to wear tomorrow for the final day.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I was thinking, maybe, we could carry on our pact?” Harry asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Draco put down his book. He swung his legs over the edge of the bed, dangling in the air above Harry’s bunk, though Harry was currently situated on the other side of the room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know,” Draco said simply.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Harry swallowed the lump in his throat. “Why not? You just said that it’s been nice.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What about Weasley and Granger?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What about them?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They’re not just going to just back off, Harry. Neither am I.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, why not? If you and I can get on, they can-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You were the one who decided we weren’t going to get along in the first place,” Draco said, glaring down at his dangling feet.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What? No I wasn’t.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, you were. The first time we met, I didn’t have a clue who you were. But the second time, you told me you weren’t interested in getting along.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You insulted Ron,” Harry defended. “It wasn’t okay.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You still decided that was it. Straight away, no hesitation.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He was my first friend,” Harry said, quieter.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Draco pushed himself off of the bed. “I could have been, too.” His feet hit the floor.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Harry nearly cut back that he wouldn’t have befriended such a pompous jerk, but he knew, now, that the Malfoy he had in his head, the outward projected persona, wasn’t the same boy he knew Malfoy to be.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I shouldn’t have had to choose, Draco. It- That wasn’t fair,” Harry said. “It was my second real day in the magical world and all I saw was a boy calling someone else poor, lesser for having hand me down clothes when it was the first time I </span>
  <em>
    <span>wasn’t</span>
  </em>
  <span> wearing hand me down clothes.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But the Weasley and Malfoy’s have always-” Malfoy said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t care,” Harry said, standing up. “I said to Ron just this morning that it doesn’t matter where we come from. And I know that’s true for you too, Draco. I know that arsehole who puts on a show for everyone isn’t you. It’s your dad, but it’s not you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“My father-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is wrong, Draco. You know it. You’ve been in enough classes with Hermione to know that everything he said about muggleborns is wrong. That being in a different class doesn’t make someone lesser. That it doesn’t matter what someone looks like, or who they like, or any of that. Everyone deserves to be treated well, treated the same. Everyone deserves the chance to be happy.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Draco took a step closer, his eyes on Harry’s feet. “I-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>I</span>
  </em>
  <span> deserve the chance to be happy,” Harry admitted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Silence fell between them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Draco’s eyes met Harry.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So do I,” Draco said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Harry breathed out, long and slow.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He took a step closer to Draco, feet brushing aside clothes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe, if you stop being a little prick,” Harry said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Draco’s lips twitched at the corners. Harry did tend to make him smile.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can try,” Draco said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Draco leaned in.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Harry leaned in too.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It turned out kissing did feel a lot like falling. Harry fell for a long time.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Ron</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Knight takes Rook,” Ron said, knocking Neville’s rook off the board. It earned a frown from Neville, even if he’d known the move was coming. “Yeah, I probably get along best with Charlie. He’s the oldest and he’s also the one I see the least ‘cause he lives abroad, dealing with dragons.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s cool,” Neville said, moving his other Rook in response. “Dragons like at the Triwizard Tournament?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yep!” Ron said, moving the same Knight to take a pawn immediately. “He was even around for it. I even got Hagrid to clue Harry in because we weren’t, you know-”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Not talking, just like now</span>
  </em>
  <span>, Ron finished the thought.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah, okay,” Neville said, seeming to sense Ron’s hesitation. He hadn’t mentioned anything when Ron had come storming back from his argument with Harry the day before, clearly annoyed. He was clearly more keyed into people’s moods than most gave him credit for, and Ron could appreciate that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Neville took his Knight, a sacrifice that Ron would usually be proud of. Right now, it just annoyed him that Harry didn’t have his back. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron responded by bringing his queen right across to the other side of the board, claiming Neville’s Knight.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh,” Neville said, frowning.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What about you? Any brothers?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No,” Neville said, glaring at the board like he expected it to reshuffle itself if he just willed it hard enough. “Just me and my gran, with my uncle sometimes coming around. It’s- I do wish I had someone else around sometimes. Or a lot.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Neville hesitated over his own Queen, then moved his hand to a pawn. Ron hummed quietly, then Neville grabbed his King instead and shifted him over a square, moving him further from harm’s way.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron nodded in response.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They just don’t get me,” Neville shrugged. “Want me to be like my dad, but I’m just </span>
  <em>
    <span>not</span>
  </em>
  <span> like my dad. Like at all.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron wasn’t like his parents either, but he didn’t want to admit how much his earlier years were in some pursuit of following in his brothers’ footsteps.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He distracted himself by moving his other Knight right next to Neville’s King, along the diagonal. Uncapturable without checkmate thanks to a nearby pawn.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah, damn,” Neville said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron smiled. “I didn’t get to know my uncles, but I bet they were cool.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know how you keep track of everything. There are a lot of you Weasleys,” Neville said. From anyone else, Ron would have taken it as an insult, but he caught the note of longing in Neville’s voice. He was a soft spoken boy, and he had a tendency to beat around the bush. Ron took it for what it was, a desire for a big family.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Trust me, it’s not fun being ignored for years.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not fun being told what you’re going to be doing for the rest of your life, either,” Neville said. He took one of Ron’s pawns with a Bishop, simultaneously positioning himself to claim the new Knight-ly threat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nice move,” Ron said. Ron gritted his teeth, trying not to think about Harry, how excited he’d been about this holiday and not having to focus on the threat of Voldemort for the first time since coming into the wizarding world. “Though I think there are some who like it. Can you imagine Malfoy not having his daddy tell him what to do at every turn? He wouldn’t be able to put on his own clothes in the morning.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Neville laughed. Ron took his Bishop.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He’s not so bad without his dad at his back or Snape around,” Neville said, moving a pawn. A token move. “I don’t think I heard him say one snide comment yesterday.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Matter of time,” Ron replied, moving his Queen. “Check.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You think so?” Neville asked. He let out an exasperated sigh as he moved his King.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Malfoy was born an asshole!” Ron exclaimed. He moved the Queen again, one last time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Neville didn’t laugh at that joke.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good game,” Ron said, standing and stretching from where they’d been playing on the floor. “I’m guessing you haven’t had much of a chance to play?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not at all at home, no.” Neville began packing away the pieces.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What sort of thing do you get up to then, whiling away the summers?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No broom stuff, that’s for sure,” Neville said, tilting his head at the Chudley Cannons poster that Ron had brought with him. He’d known it was silly considering they were only there for a week, but he had been planning on brainwashing Harry into coming to some games with him over the summer.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’ve got a garden, of sorts,” Neville continued. “It’s kind of why I came on this trip. Did you know that this forest has one of the most diverse range of magical plants in the world. It’s why there are even wizarding camps out here in the middle of nowhere.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, right, I forgot you were so into Herbology,” Ron said. He might have lamented his roommate to Harry, but Neville wasn’t so bad. He was really easy to get on with, and without the pressure of school he was a lot more laid back. “Hey, we should go have a look tomorrow morning. No activities until the afternoon, right? It could be your turn to show me up!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Neville grinned and agreed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The next morning they had an early breakfast, being some of the first people to get into the dining area. They were, despite Ron’s insistence on a full breakfast, heading out into the forest while other people were only just arriving for their first meal.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>At first, Neville only wandered between a few different types of plants that they passed, only explaining what they were when prompted by Ron. Ron only recognised the name of every third plant, but eventually Neville was jabbering away excitedly without encouragement from Ron.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And Ron, if he was honest, was enjoying it. It reminded him of Hermione, but none of it was facts for the sake of just knowing facts. Neville had known that he’d find Gillyweed in the small ponds nearby because of the patterns the dragonflies flew in nearby, he’d shown how you could grab some knotgrass and rub it between your fingers to make a paste that makes your skin a bit more stretchy, and explained how it had been used in the middle ages as a healing herb where wizards and witches had used it to fold skin over the top of wounds to help speed up healing, to various degrees of effect.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, wow, look,” Neville said, pulling Ron over to a tree with pale leaves with dark speckly blotches. “It’s an Alihotsy tree! They’re meant to be nearly extinct. My mum had a young one of these once, apparently, but she couldn’t get the right soil for it during the war, so it died.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You want to get some seeds?” Ron asked. He didn’t know for sure that trees even had seeds.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A cutting would be great,” Neville said, “but you’ve got to be really careful. The leaves can make people hysterical, touch one and you’ll end up laughing uncontrollably.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, let’s get one,” Ron said, stepping closer.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I- uh, damn. I didn’t bring my stuff with me,” Neville said. “I’ll have to come back another day, after I’ve collected some shears-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Neville tailed off, looking off to the side. Ron was looking along the ground, hoping to spot a branch that had fallen loose from the tree.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A snort caught his attention. It wasn’t Neville.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He looked around to see a creature about the size of a cow or bison, stamping its hoofs on the ground as it glared at Neville and Ron. It had two horns poking out of its head, both twisting slightly as they came out, with a slight purple glow coming from each. The creature snorted again, and their breath came out a similar purple translucent colour.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ron,” Neville said, waving his arm, indicating for Ron to get behind him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The movement was what set the creature off. Whether it was off put by people being in its territory or was used to being the predator in the area, Ron would never know.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It charged Neville down, bolting across the short distance between them, hoofs digging into the soft forest floor and tearing it up as it passed. Ron yelled out a warning, but it wasn’t nearly fast enough. Neville was caught in the chest, one of the horns hitting him, digging in. Ron thought he saw the horn spin slightly, like a drill aiming to burr a hole.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Neville was yelling, screaming. The beast tossed it’s head and Neville went flying off, hitting a tree off to the side, further from Ron.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron wanted nothing more than to rush to Neville’s side, but the beast turned its attention to him next. One of its horns was now dripping blood, but it didn’t look remotely done. It stomped the floor once, and that was all the warning Ron had.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He threw himself to the side, hitting the earth, the beast passing through the space he had been just a moment before. There was a thud as it slammed into the tree behind him, but Ron didn’t stop to look back, rolling back to his feet and putting distance between him and the beast.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He ran to other trees, hoping to pull the same trick again and turned in time to see the beast pull itself free from the Alihotsy tree. Branches shook above it, a few breaking loose, bringing down a cascade of leaves.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The moment they touched the beast its eyes spread wide, and it began snorting and sneezing and squealing. It collapsed onto its side, continuing making the noises as it was half buried in the leaves.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron didn’t waste anymore time watching it. He was at Neville’s side in a moment.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was a mess. A literal mess of flesh, blood and bone. Ron could see the wound, big enough he could put his finger into it without touching any one edge of it, but the flesh at the edges of it were chaotic, moving and changing colour. They rippled and spread and folded over themselves in ways that a wound simply wasn’t meant to. He glanced one more time at those purple tinted horns and decided he needed to get Neville back to the camp as fast as he could.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Neville,” Ron said, an arm slipping under his shoulder. “It’s okay. It’s okay. You’re going to be okay.” Neville was shaking, or maybe he was morphing and folding flesh everywhere, which made his body quake against Ron’s. “You’re going to be okay.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ron,” Neville said. The word was stretched out over a second and Ron could hear the way his voice shook, shook in a physical way, the tone and timbre changing the same way his flesh was. “I-” Neville’s voice was higher pitched than it was a second ago.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was awful. Ron couldn’t imagine what Neville was going through. It was sick.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’ve got to get you back to the camp,” Ron said, and he was walking, a solid pillar against Neville’s dragging weight. “We’ll get you back, and you’ll be okay.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Neville was dead weight against him. Neville kept trying to get their feet under them, but whenever they moved any muscle they yelped in pain. The yelping was even worse for Ron because he could hear how they changed every time they happened.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>At some point Neville’s shoes slipped off. Ron didn’t slow down, didn’t stop.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A part of his brain noted that he could follow the blood trail back to pick them up later.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His arms ached, his shoulder burned where he supported Neville, but it was easier the closer he got to camp. Just get him back to the camp, where people knew healing magic, where they had potions, an infirmary.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Neville would be okay.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re going to be okay,” Ron said. His mouth felt numb. Everything felt numb except the burning ache in his shoulder.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Neville had to be okay.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They were in the dining area. Ron didn’t know if he called for help or not. All he knew was that he could set Neville down, that he’d be okay now. There were other people around now. People who knew what to do.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hi Ron,” a voice said from behind him. “What happened to Neville?” His nerves were still on the fritz, and it felt like the words had to push through a fog to get to him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He got caught by this thing.” Ron said. The horns, the blood. He grit his teeth. “Had horns, charged him.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He should have acted faster. Should have sent a spell at the beast, given it a reason to stay back and Neville would be okay </span>
  <em>
    <span>now</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He watched as Neville was hurried away. “Shit. We didn’t even go that far from camp.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That sounds awful. I- They’ll take good care of him. You should come eat. Get yourself some food, we can sit down and eat together. You can tell me what happened.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He glanced back, spotting everyone sitting at the dining tables, staring at him over the abrupt arrival of an injured Neville. He registered in the back of his head that it must have been lunchtime, that he and Neville had been in the forest for hours. The voice belonged to Hermione, who seemed really worried, her hand almost shaking where she touched his arm. It was exactly like one of their adventures, danger and death always so close, but they were meant to be relaxing, meant to be enjoying the summer holiday.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He didn’t think he could stomach the idea of food right now, picturing Neville’s emulsifying and shifting flesh as he’d tried to hurry him back to the camp.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t want-” Ron stopped short of the word </span>
  <em>
    <span>food</span>
  </em>
  <span>, picturing the gore from Neville’s chest and nearly gagging. Thoughts of meat turned his mind to the cow-like creature, how it had seemed magical and how that might be something the camp medics could use. “I should really go check on him. I might be able to help.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hermione gave him a brave smile, crossing her arms. “Okay. I hope he’s feeling better soon.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron didn’t wait, rushing off to go find Neville again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When he found them, Neville was sedated so they could treat him. Ron was pulled aside by one of the camp counselors.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What happened?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There was a creature, out in the forest. Looked like a cow, kind of, but had two horns, purplish,” Ron said, his face pale. “Charged Neville, and the horn that hit him kind of spun.” Ron crouched down beside Neville, holding onto his arm, not caring that he might be getting in the way.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It was horrible,” Ron said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sounds like a Bicorn,” the camp counselor said, calling out to another that they needed something to stabilise the magical wound. “It shouldn’t be changing him like this. People who get hit by Bicorn’s tend to have a nasty scar, but it tidies everything else up. How they hunt, they’re scavengers. It heals up every other part so their food is safe, free from infection, returned to its proper state. They can hit creatures that have already been torn apart and return them to nearly peak condition, then they’ve got a whole other meal to eat. They’re not meant to do this.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He’s been like this since it hit him,” Ron said. Neville’s face was a roiling, bubbling spread of skin, but it wasn’t as aggressive as it had been around the wound. Ron checked around Neville’s chest and though there was a lot of swelling, the skin there was barely moving any more. “It’s slowing, though.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We might not need anything to stop the process then,” the counselor said, “it might be sorting itself out. We need blood replenishing potion and to close up the wound, but he’ll be fine.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Neville didn’t look fine. He didn’t look like himself at all. His legs looked thinner, the same happening above his waist. As his face stopped changing, his features were different too, softer, his face thinner.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They had magic though. Neville would get sorted out.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re going to be okay, Neville,” Ron said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Neville stirred a little at Ron’s voice, but didn’t rouse fully from his sedation. His body was still now.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’ll keep him here tonight, wait and see if these effects wear off. If they don’t-” the camp counselor tailed off. It wasn’t the sort of thing they were trained for, but they could contact someone with more experience, surely.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron stayed beside Neville for a while. He wasn’t sure how long. Most of the camp counselors didn’t hang around, only one of them staying around to be there when Neville woke up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eventually Ron was told to go to dinner. He left the still unconscious Neville asleep. It was like at the end of every school year, waiting by Harry’s bed. A part of him thought that was unfair. He wasn’t talking to Harry, he shouldn’t have ended up sitting by a friends bed, worrying about when they would wake up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He didn’t talk to anyone at dinner, even if he did manage to eat a bit. Neville’s settled flesh had helped settle his stomach.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The room was quiet, uncomfortably so. He laid on the bed for a few minutes, then paced for a few, then tried to play chess against himself, then tried to read his Quidditch book, then went back to the bed, starting the process all over again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Neville snored, Ron realised. He always had, through every year of school they had had. Every night in the dormitory, Neville’s snoring had been there. At the Burrow, the house creaked and settled throughout the night, every night. Gnomes shuffled around outside.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Even when his family had gone on holiday, or gone camping for the world cup, there had been noise. People moving around, the place they were staying at a thoroughfare for people to be moving around in the night.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The room was still, so still. Ron wondered how he was going to sleep that night.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was a knock at the door.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Neville? Are you in there?” Harry’s voice. Harry was at the door.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron felt a snarl of anger that Harry had only come to the door to see Neville, and then a wave of guilt as he remembered Neville’s injury. Bad enough they were keeping him overnight.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you okay?” Harry asked, his voice muffled by the door. “Hello?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron thought about sitting up, going to the door. About facing Harry, who had abandoned him, who hadn’t even tried to get a room with him. Who had let him fall to the bottom of the pile, forgotten, silt and sand at the bottom of a trunk. The same as everyone else, like his family, like everyone at school.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That’s what Ron was. Forgettable.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ron?” Harry asked. Still muffled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron didn’t make a noise. Tried to think of something to say to Harry when he opened the door, something cutting that would remind Harry that he wasn’t nobody. That he was important. That he mattered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He took too long to find the words. He heard Harry moving behind the door, walking away.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron stared at the ceiling, thinking about Harry, about his family. About how he never seemed to connect with anyone. How no one ever seemed to put in the time to </span>
  <em>
    <span>get</span>
  </em>
  <span> him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He counted the ridges on the ceiling, the lines in the wood until it was too dark to do so. He wondered if anyone would even notice if he didn’t leave the room tomorrow.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Neville would</span>
  </em>
  <span>, he thought.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>So Neville was the first person Ron went to see the next day, forgoing breakfast to get there quicker.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Neville hadn’t changed back. If anything, the opposite had happened.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They’d gotten rid of his blood soaked clothes and given him something distinctly more feminine. Ron only called the clothes feminine because it accented Neville’s curves.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron shook his head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Neville, hey man,” Ron said. “You’re okay?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“All healed up,” Neville said, a shy smile on his face, still resting, propped up on an infirmary bed. His voice was still higher pitched, soft. He let out a little laugh. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank god. You had me worried there,” Ron said, hand resting on his shoulder.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nah. You’ve seen worse,” Neville said, swatting at Ron. He flushed. Ron smiled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe,” Ron said, “but that just means I’ve got practice at worrying.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well you don’t need to. I’m in top form,” Neville said, striking a bit of a pose.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You getting out of here today? It’s way too quiet in that room without you,” Ron said, looking around Neville to see if he had any stuff to bring back with him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah, yeah,” Neville said, looking down at their lap, “I’m getting out of here.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He made it sound far more final than coming back to the room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re not going home, are you?” Ron asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No! No, I’m staying here,” Neville said, giving Ron a look that reminded him to stop worrying. “It’s just that, I’m getting moved to another room.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh,” Ron said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Neville winced.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s not because of you Ron,” Neville said. “Definitely not because of you. I- I’m being moved to the girls side of the camp.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Neville looked back at their lap again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What? Why?” Ron asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Because, I’m a-” Neville stopped, looked out the window. “It’s just what the counselors decided.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But, I don’t get it- it’s-” Ron looked around the room, half expecting to find a counselor he could complain to. He didn’t. “You’re meant to be my roommate.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know, Ron,” Neville said. “And it has been nice. Like, better than I was expecting this camp to be.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Silence fell between them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron picked up one of the snacks that had been left on the bedside beside Neville. Absentmindedly ate one.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Woodchip flavour. Not a nice one.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can you do me a favour?” Neville asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, of course,” Ron asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They’re meant to be moving me in a little while. Could you grab my stuff from our room?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron nodded. He turned to go, and Neville grabbed his hand. Neville’s fingers were soft, despite the callouses from years of Herbology work.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Neville flushed again. Ron did the same, this time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Neville gave him his building and room number.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron nodded, heading out of the infirmary, wandered in a daze back to his room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When he was done packing Neville’s things, he wondered whether he should pack his own too. Without Neville around, without Harry to talk to, with Hermione on the side of the camp, did he really have a reason to stay?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The alternative, going back home to his mum and dad, being ignored there instead, seemed just as sad.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When he arrived at Neville’s room, Hermione was there, tasked with showing Neville where everything was in the building, though it seemed nearly exactly the same as the one Ron and Neville had been in.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Shortly after, they were helping Neville unpack, telling Hermione the story of what had happened in the forest. Oddly, sharing how dangerous it had been helped Ron relax some, maybe because he could look at Neville and imagine that it could have been far worse.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hermione was a settling presence too, reminding Ron that even if some things changed, some things would always stay the same. Hermione couldn’t help theorising about what the Bicorn gouge had done to Neville and that she really wished she could visit the library. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Neville reminded her that they were there to have fun, which she flushed at.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was a conversation that Ron played over and over in his head that night, forcing himself to confront that the only point of being here at camp was to have a good time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>So when morning came, he was resolved to deal with some things.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron stared at the back of Harry’s head, standing with his breakfast in hand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He let out a breath.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is this seat taken?” Ron asked, trying to sound upbeat, tapping the table beside Harry.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Harry froze, sitting up stiffer. Ron felt the urge to turn and leave, avoid a confrontation.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He sat down beside Harry anyway.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Harry didn’t say hello. He didn’t say anything. Just sat there.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron didn’t want to try that upbeat voice again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He tried to eat some of his breakfast but it felt rough and sickly swallowing it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron sighed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry,” he said, looking down at his food rather than Harry. “I shouldn’t have blamed you. I know you didn’t have a choice about sharing a room with Malfoy.”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Just like I didn’t have a choice about sharing a room with Neville, or finding out I enjoyed it,</span>
  </em>
  <span> Ron thought. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I didn’t,” Harry said.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Just like I didn’t have a choice in losing Neville.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“And I wanted to share a room with you. I did-” Ron said, stopping short of saying that he didn’t think he’d have enjoyed this trip without Harry, because for a few days there, he had. And now it was ruined. “It was just what we’ve always done, I didn’t think things would be any different.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Harry nodded, like he understood, but Ron knew he didn’t.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And I was sharing a room with Neville instead. It-” Ron said, stopping himself again. There wasn’t any point going on about how he’d missed having Neville’s company.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Was</span>
  </em>
  <span> sharing a room?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He’s been moved,” Ron admitted. He sighed, and searched for the words that didn’t sound lame and sad. “Which is weird and sucky and just makes the room feel really quiet.” </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Isolating.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“You two fall out?” Harry asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron frowned. Harry thought that everyone would just fall out with him?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, not like that. It just happened. Weren’t really given a choice.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah. You can still go hang out with him though, right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah.” Ron thought about hanging out with Hermione and Neville yesterday, how good it had been to be in a trio again. “I guess you didn’t even get that the last few days. I’m sorry, I was being a real arse. I know you were looking forward to this, hanging out.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s alright. We can partner for the orientation thing today?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron had honestly forgotten about the orientation task, but thinking about it now stung. He’d been thinking about how great Neville would be during it, outshining everyone with his knowledge of the plants and how the wildlife interacted with the forest.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Still, this was Harry showing that he was still happy to be his friend. After how he’d acted earlier in the week, it was the best case scenario.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sure, that sounds good,” Ron said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The journey back into the forest was bittersweet, revisiting areas he’d been with Neville a few days ago. Most parts were unfamiliar, but Ron could point out a fair few things that Neville had talked about to Harry, who had a few questions that Ron would have to chase up with Neville. Ron smiled at the idea, glad to have an excuse to go see Neville again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>At one point they passed by another group, consisting of a fair few Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, with only Hermione and Dean as the odd ones out amongst the group. Hermione was wearing clothes that hugged her figure, seeming far more comfortable with the almost-strangers than she ever would have been at Hogwarts.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It wasn’t until the end of the orientation task that Ron spotted a particular type of pale leaf with dark splotches. An idea struck him, something he could do for Neville, and he turned to Harry.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Cover for me? I’ll catch right up, I’ve just got to go look for something,” Ron said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sure,” Harry nodded, quirking an eyebrow in question, but didn’t call Ron back after he hurried into the trees.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron immediately began searching for an Alihotsy tree, sure that there must be one nearby if there was that signature leaf on the ground. A glimmering of leaves caught his attention, and he stumbled into view of one of them, grinning. Neville would be pleased. Now he just needed a branch to bring back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He looked around the tree for a few minutes, eventually finding a few branches that seemed like they would work, one of them fresh enough it still had the leaves on. He made sure to hold them delicately, avoiding touching the leaves, remembering how quickly the massive Bicorn had been downed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>On his way back, he heard a giggle in the trees, a girl’s. He rolled his eyes. It seemed like this camp had a new hookup every single day-</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Everything okay, Dean?” the girl asked teasingly, alluringly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron stopped. He would recognise Hermione’s voice anywhere.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He pressed himself up against a tree, his eyes still spread wide in surprise. A few moments later, he heard someone moving and leaned out from behind his tree, spotting Dean with flushed cheeks, ruffled clothes and red lips. A stupid grin on his face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He stepped further out from his hiding place and spotted Hermione, cleaning up her lipstick and smoothing down her hair, a smaller but no less evident smile on her face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hermione?” Ron asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hermione looked up, spotted Ron. “Oh, hi Ron,” she said, walking over as she straightened out her clothes a little. She didn’t look nearly as flushed as Dean, but it was pretty clear they’d just been kissing. “What have you got there?” she asked, pointing at his armful of branches.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s- They’re Alihotsy branches,” Ron said, distractedly. “You- You’re dating Dean?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hermione snorted. “No. No, not dating. Just-” she smiled, “-enjoying myself.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh,” Ron said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Walk me back to camp?” Hermione asked, slipping her lipstick away, her eyes glittering with mischief after her impromptu meeting with Dean.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh, yeah sure,” Ron said. They started walking, and soon after Ron’s brain rebooted, and he started processing. And soon he came to a surprising conclusion. Despite Hermione being with Dean, despite how he had felt at the Yule Ball, he didn’t feel the same now. He was happy for her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron smiled at her. “So…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hermione flushed at Ron’s smile, but met him with one of her own. “Don’t you say anything. I work hard at school, I’m allowed to play hard too.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron laughed. “Sure, sure. No judgement here.” He spotted the camp up ahead. “I am going to have to torment Dean about this over dinner though.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think that would be okay. Just a little bit, though.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron nodded, wanting to ask her about how Neville had been that day, but instead said, “I should go dump these in my room. I’ll see you in a bit!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After a dinner filled with cryptic comments that went over Harry’s head and made Dean’s cheeks redder than tomatoes, Ron retired to his room where he slept far better than he had since Neville had gotten hit by the Bicorn.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The following day saw him have another breakfast with Harry. There wasn’t any awkward sliding into the seat next to him, or pregnant silence, just two friends sitting down together, talking about Quidditch and what they’d been up to.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You killed and hidden Malfoy’s body yet?” Ron asked Harry.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ha. No, not yet,” Harry said. “He’s been on his best behaviour, I think.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah, so he’s down to mentioning his father only, what, ten times a day?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think it was three times yesterday.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What is this camp doing to people?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Harry shrugged. “Maybe it’s just that everyone is a bit out of their comfort zone, less reason to act up or put on a show. Hermione’s dressing up, Draco’s chilling out, even Fleur is- being less pompous.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron thought about Neville, and how he was far more open about the things he enjoyed here, and sharing parts of himself. Ron was the same.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, I suppose camp has been good for that. Won’t last with Malfoy though,” Ron said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Harry’s cutlery clattered onto his plate, his food finished.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s not really fair. He didn’t decide to be born a Malfoy,” Harry said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He decided to act that way.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Did he? I don’t know if he really had the choice, growing up like he did. Would you care about muggles if you hadn’t grown up a Weasley, would Hermione care about books if her parents didn’t practically have their own library?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron looked at Harry, noting how wound up over this he was. He followed that thread to its conclusion. Would Harry care about people if he hadn’t grown up with people who showed him so little care, who made him realise how important love was? Would Harry accept that people cared about him easier if it wasn’t for the Dursleys?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I- Maybe that’s fair. But what are we meant to do, not fight back when he acts like a Malfoy?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know,” Harry said, looking down at his empty plate. “Maybe all he needs, maybe all anyone needs is some space to grow into the people they really are, without relying on the crutch of where you came from.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron nodded as Harry stood up, joining him in returning their empty plates.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After breakfast they played some pick up Quidditch with some others, even including Malfoy in their ranks. Ron was careful not to snipe at him, and Malfoy returned the favour. Eventually, Ron wasn’t even paying attention to who he was playing against, and they played right up until lunch.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Harry ended up sitting with Malfoy, but Ron wasn’t quite ready to bury that hatchet. He shuffled over, sitting with Neville and Hermione.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The two of them were whispering to one another as he arrived, but he slid into the free seat next to Hermione anyway, Neville having sat at the end of the table. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So,” Ron said, interrupting the two. Neville jumped a little. “Harry and Malfoy are sitting together.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, I guess nifflers are flying,” Hermione said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nothing,” she said, smiling.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re okay with this?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m trying to be more laid back, if you hadn’t noticed.” Hermione stretched as if to accentuate the points and Ron looked across at where most of the boys were sitting together, spotting that the action had drawn the looks of a few of the boys, Dean included.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re making someone blush, Hermione,” Ron noted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Shut up, Weasley,” Daphne Greengrass said across the table.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron looked over at the girl, bewildered. Why would she care if Dean was blushing?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Play nice, Daphne,” Hermione said, smiling. “Ron and I were messing with Dean last night.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron wasn’t sure why Greengrass needed an explanation, or why she’d even turned on him in the first place, but for some reason what Hermione said seemed to calm her down and she turned back to her own conversation.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron looked at Hermione, a question on his face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hermione shrugged. “Sometimes you don’t know what you really want before it lands right in front of you.” She paused. “Maybe Malfoy has just realised that he doesn’t want to be fighting all the time at school and is trying to rebuild bridges.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Doesn’t seem like him.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“People can change,” Neville said, the first thing he’d said since Ron had sat down.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron couldn’t deny that. He decided to drop the topic for now; he’d barely spoken with Neville in the past couple of days, and he wanted to pick his brain about the questions Harry had brought up. Neville was always so passionate when talking about Herbology.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lunch was soon over, however, and the afternoon activities kicked off. Before he knew it, Ron was back in his room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tomorrow was the last day of camp, Ron realised, surprised about how it had snuck up on him. Glancing at his trunk and the packing he still had to do before going to bed, he decided to head over to Neville’s room and give him his present.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The camp was quiet, most people in their rooms packing. Ron heard Harry and Draco arguing through their door as he walked past, the words indistinct and he smiled. Some things never changed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He made it to Neville’s room without being stopped despite the curfew and knocked on the door. Neville opened the door a moment later in his pajamas, barefoot, a tighter set of clothes than Ron had expected. Ron looked down at the bundle of branches to stop his eyes straying.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ron, hi,” Neville said. He sounded happy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hi Neville.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Neville’s face dropped a little, then stepped to the side. “Come in? I’m packing but, well, the room has more than enough space for the two of us.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron stepped through the doorway, Neville closing the door behind him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I brought you a present, of a sort,” Ron said, holding up the branches, still cautious of the leaves.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, wow,” Neville said, taking the branches from Ron. “Thank you! That’s- I thought I’d be going home without any.” He put them down on the ground and wrapped Ron up in a hug.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Neville was soft. The hug ended too soon.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It was no problem,” Ron said. “How are you doing?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah, um, it’s been okay,” Neville said. “I think a few of the counselors are still a bit uncomfortable with me being here, but it’s the last night, so I think they’re just sitting tight, waiting for us to go home so they don’t have to deal with this anymore.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, as long as you’re comfortable, that’s the important thing,” Ron said, frowning at the thought of the counselors causing trouble. “Do you have any news about changing back?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Neville smiled slightly. “They think it might be permanent. A day is about the maximum length of time for a transformation to hang around, and it’d break all sorts of natural laws of magic for me to abruptly change back now.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh,” Ron said. “There’s nothing they can do, Nev?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Neville bit his lip. Opened their mouth, hesitated, shut it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” Ron asked, a little worried by Neville’s reaction.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can you- Alright, I know it’s weird, but can you call me Nellie?” Neville asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron looked at him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hermione’s been calling me that,” Neville said, like that was an explanation, but Ron doubted that was the whole story.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh, sure,” Ron said. “If that’s what you want. Nellie.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Neville smiled and a bit of the awkwardness fell away.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know, I felt like a dog bringing you a bunch of sticks,” Ron said as Neville stepped back to his packing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Neville let out a peal of bright laughter and Ron grinned.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe we should play fetch or something,” Ron said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Neville laughed harder, doubling over, before collapsing on the ground. He shrieked in laughter and Ron let out a little chuckle at how over the top they were being.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh god- Oh, haha,” Neville went into another peal of high pitched laughter.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That’s when Ron noticed the leaf that he had just stepped on, that had gotten stuck to the bottom of his dainty foot.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron seized it, pulling it free. The next thing he knew he was quaking in laughter on the floor with Neville, the leaf cast aside as Ron wheezed for breath between gasps of laughter.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh-” Neville let out a long breath around a dazzling smile. “Those leaves are strong.” He curled up against Ron’s side, burying his face in Ron’s side.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron convinced himself that the reason he didn’t push Neville away was because he was struggling to breath between laughs and not because he liked the way Neville’s body pressed flush up against his side.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nev- Nellie, you okay?” he asked as the laughter stopped bubbling to his lips.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Nellie said, quiet. “Just surprised me. We’ll be okay, the leaves don’t have a lasting effect.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron nodded, smiling at the ceiling.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Did you have a good time? At camp?” Neville asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah. Yeah, I really did,” Ron said. “Kind of wish we could stay longer. What about you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Neville nodded. Ron could feel the motion against his shoulder, could feel his breath that raised the hairs of his neck.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, it’s been great. With the place, and rooming with you, and the transformation,” Neville said. “I always felt out of place, like I didn’t fit in, like a part of me was just wrong. But when I woke up after you carried me back, things just clicked into place. Things just felt right for the first time.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron stayed quiet. He thought he knew what she meant- what Neville meant. He’d always struggled to fit in with his family, to pursue the interests that let him hang out with his dad or his brothers or his mum, so they would ask him questions and talk to him and find out what happened during his day. But here, with Neville, things just flowed. They just worked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron wasn’t sure what he would do without him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know what I’m going to say to my nan. She’s not going to be like the counselors, she won’t just let me say no to the reversal process,” Neville said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron digested that. Neville had had the option for a while, to change back, by the sound of it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, how do we change her mind?” Ron asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>So the two of them talked, and strategized, and plotted their chess piece moves.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nellie stayed close to Ron all night. Ron slept well. Nellie did too.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The final morning of camp dawned on them, an uncomfortable reminder that they had slept all night on a wooden floor, the aches of their bad decision serving as a reminder for the whole of the morning. Ron had to hurry out of Nellie’s room before breakfast to avoid being spotted and to pack his trunk, but not before getting a morning hug.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After breakfast was the final camp activity, the boys and girls being divided up in preparation for a game of capture the flag. Ron nearly complained about the rule of no magic before he remembered that Hermione was on the opposite team and had a range of spells that none of the boys could ever hope to match.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Draco and Harry were hanging out beside each other, which got Ron thinking about Nellie. He knew it was a little silly, but he’d half expected to have Nellie on his side this morning, joining in with the rest of the boys.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The game kicked off, and fell apart just as quickly. Barely ten minutes had passed and Harry and Draco had disappeared, two of the school teams’ seekers who would surely have been key in capturing the girl’s flag. It wouldn’t be until later that Ron would learn they had gone to revisit a particular rock above the lake, and that neither of them had fallen in this time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Still, growing up amongst 6 siblings had developed Ron’s competitive spirit, and despite how much things had changed that week, the desire to win still burned in him. He ignored the few teammates who were still hopelessly trying to convince Fleur to go on a date with them, and set out after the flag.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was well hidden though, and before he could find it, Dean had found him with bad news. The girls had grabbed their flag and were bringing it back to their base. They pulled that off and the game would be over.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Their efforts redirected and soon Ron and Dean were in pursuit of Hermione and Nellie. They bounded along forest paths, dancing across stepping stones of a stream, the boys on their heels the whole way. Nellie had the flag, but Hermione was the real problem, running interference at every turn. She pulled branches back to come pinging at the pursuing boys and eventually decided on an ambush, hiding behind some tree roots and tripping up Dean as he tried to run past. She pounced on him a moment later, but Dean yelled at Ron to keep going.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron tried not to think about the glee on Hermione’s face as she closed in on Dean, or the laughter from the both of them as he ran out of sight of them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was just him and Nellie now, and Ron had always been a bit taller than him, a bit more athletic. Ten trees of a lead became five, became two, became none. Ron tackled him, and the two of them came tumbling to the floor.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“These are new clothes, Ron!” Nellie said. “You’ll get them filthy and ruin them.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nellie, you’re really telling me you won’t be wearing those in the garden and getting them dirty anyway?” Ron asked, laughing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nellie stood up, started circling across from Ron, moving towards the flag he had dropped. They wore a playful smirk though, so Ron knew he wasn’t in any real trouble.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know, you joined this camp on the boys side,” Ron said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t remind me!” Nellie said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s true!” Ron exclaimed, trying to slide to the side so he could block Nellie’s escape.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The whole thing is rubbish, boys vs girls?” Nellie said. “It doesn’t make sense. You really think I should have been on the boys side at the start of this trip?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron stopped. Nellie had lost some of that playfulness from his voice.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m a girl, Ron,” Nellie said. “And I like that I am. And I might have been stupid not realising it earlier, but I always have been. Hermione and I, we think we know why it happened, with the Bicorn. Reverting back to true form- I was born one way, but magic knew that wasn’t me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron took a step towards Nellie.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And I get this is confusing, because it looks different from the outside,” Nellie said. “But it’s how I feel. It’s who I am.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s not confusing,” Ron said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s not?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No. I-” Ron looked around the forest. There was no one else in sight. “I think I was slow, understanding this, but- it doesn’t matter where you came from. Because that’s not who you were born as, or it’s not who you are, if that makes sense.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It- It’s not exactly right, but it’s close,” Nellie said. She smiled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron smiled back. He liked her smile.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I like your smile,” Ron said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thanks,” she said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I like a lot about you,” Ron said. “And I don’t know if I would have realised how much I like about you if you hadn’t changed.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nellie frowned.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry,” Ron said. “I guess that makes me kind of a jerk.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s okay,” Nellie said. “I don’t think you get a choice in what you end up liking, or wanting.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron nodded. “I want to get better. Be better. I just might need time to learn.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And maybe as a first step,” Ron said, stepping to the side, “the girls can win the game.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh you’re letting me win are you? Being chivalrous?” Nellie asked, smirking.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Ron said, his lips twitching into a smile.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So gracious of you. Such a gentleman,” Nellie said as she walked past. “Of course, the story will be much more about me using my feminine wiles to convince you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron looked at the ground to hide his grin.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He really liked </span>
  <em>
    <span>her</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She moved again, back towards him this time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then she was gone, leaving only a burning kiss on Ron’s cheek.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This time he watched her go. She looked like a dream.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron was looking forward to the next term of school.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
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